House adopts resolution for joint session on canvassing of votes for president, VP

FILE PHOTO: The plenary hall of the House of Representatives. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)

MANILA, Philippines — A concurrent resolution by both chambers of Congress that allows them to jointly canvass votes for the 2022 presidential and vice-presidential elections has been adopted by the House of Representatives.

During the resumption of session on Monday afternoon, the House approved House Concurrent Resolution No. 26, mandating both the House and the Senate to canvass the votes starting Tuesday, May 24, at 10:00 a.m.

“Resolved by the House of Representatives, the Senate concurring, that both Houses of Congress of the Philippines holds a Joint Public Session on May 24, 2022, at 10 o’clock in the morning at the Session Hall of the House of Representatives to canvass the votes cast for President and Vice President in the elections held on May 9, 2022, and proclaim the President-elect and Vice President-elect,” the resolution reads.

The resolution was signed by Speaker Lord Allan Velasco, representative of the lone district of Marinduque; Majority Floor Leader and Leyte Rep. Ferdinand Martin Romualdez; and Minority Floor Leader and Party-list Rep. Joseph Stephen Paduano.

Congress is tasked to canvass the votes for the presidential and vice-presidential races and proclaim its winners, while the Commission on Elections (Comelec) counts the votes and proclaims winners in the Senate and party-list contest.

No winner has been proclaimed yet for president and vice president but results from the Comelec’s transparency server as of May 11 showed Ferdinand Marcos Jr. getting more than 31.09 million votes while his running mate, Sara Duterte-Carpio, garnered more than 31.55 million votes.

KGA